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| Bradford: City of Dreams captured my home city in all its glory | Bradford: City of Dreams captured my home city in all its glory |
| (7 days later) | |
| Urdu-speaking builders-come-gravediggers, pigeon-fanciers, En Kahnz cars, the Pudding Mile, and Mother Hubbards! BBC2 scored a corker with Bradford: City of Dreams last night! My Twitter feed was ablaze. And this time, not because of a riot. If you don't know the West Yorkshire city, last night's programme was probably eye-opening and surprising. | Urdu-speaking builders-come-gravediggers, pigeon-fanciers, En Kahnz cars, the Pudding Mile, and Mother Hubbards! BBC2 scored a corker with Bradford: City of Dreams last night! My Twitter feed was ablaze. And this time, not because of a riot. If you don't know the West Yorkshire city, last night's programme was probably eye-opening and surprising. |
| Ask most people who have never visited Bradford what they know about it and they usually think riots, racism, and deprived communities. So, flash cars, fish & chips, and funerals were probably the last thing they expected. But that's what they got. And for the first time the Bradford that I grew up in and love was represented in much of its glory. The architecture, the rolling hills, the minarets, and the mills, the Beeb got everything from the shots to the voiceover right. Picking Sophie McShera as a narrator was the icing on the cake. The Downton Abbey star is a former St Joseph's College girl, as am I. And for those of you who don't know, the Catholic school sits in the heart of Manningham, a street away from the infamous riots. So, the places and stories told would be familiar to Sophie. Maybe it's because I'm a former fatty and a foodie but the sight of Bradford's Pudding Mile, cornflake tart and Mahmood's Burgers on my telly made my heart sing and my soul homesick. Bradfordians love to eat. When rumours of the re-opening of Mother Hubbard's fish and chip shop started I can't explain the joy that was felt in the community. For some of us it was akin to Bradford City Football club reaching Wembley. This was the place to eat fish and chips when we were kids. So, it would seem that integration has been happening in this segregated city, just not in ways people expected. Who would think that residents of the Curry Capital would drive the growing popularity of English grub? Fish fryer Mick, the Mother Hubbard's manager, certainly didn't. He said: "I never thought as many Asians would eat fish and chips as what they do, but Asians love them." Bradford has changed and adapted in so many ways that people never discuss and it was great to see all those things in one place. Thursday night's episode captured the Bradford I know and love brilliantly. Peppered with facts and amazing people it had me hooked from start to finish. The case studies really brought the city to life and the production team had obviously worked hard. Graham the gravedigger and builder had me in stitches. My former T&A News Editor, Jan Winter, sent me a tweet that summed up the characters: "There is a whole linguistic research project right there in those accents." Offering "a touch of Saville Row" for cars, Nav from EnKahnz summed up part of city that non-residents would not believe. He said "I see like a £500,000 car drive past me and for a second I thought I was in Monte Carlo, but no, I was on Great Horton Road!" And it's true! As a reporter for the Telegraph & Argus I spent many a late shift eating jam roly-poly and custard at Café Lahore counting flash cars. I live in London now but I have to say I have seen more luxury cars at a Bradford wedding than walking through Knightsbridge. There's something so Bradford about seeing a bright white Rolls Royce in bay in a Co-Op car park. It warms the cockles of my heart! If there was one character who contained all the parts of Bradford it was Anglo-Indian Rajan, the pigeon fancier and entrepreneur. With a maternal grandfather who didn't eat "none of that foreign muck" and a paternal grandfather who advised his Indian son "don't fall in love with a white person", you would expect him to be massively conflicted. But he's not. He's just another Bradford guy chasing a business dream. Bradford has had its fair share of bad publicity but it seems that struggle really does set you on the path to success. The city has for too long sat in the shadow of its successful sibling, Leeds. I always knew that if it stood apart and did its own thing something celebratory would happen and it seems it is. From the ashes of the past a new city is emerging. Here's to Bradford: City of Dreams! | Ask most people who have never visited Bradford what they know about it and they usually think riots, racism, and deprived communities. So, flash cars, fish & chips, and funerals were probably the last thing they expected. But that's what they got. And for the first time the Bradford that I grew up in and love was represented in much of its glory. The architecture, the rolling hills, the minarets, and the mills, the Beeb got everything from the shots to the voiceover right. Picking Sophie McShera as a narrator was the icing on the cake. The Downton Abbey star is a former St Joseph's College girl, as am I. And for those of you who don't know, the Catholic school sits in the heart of Manningham, a street away from the infamous riots. So, the places and stories told would be familiar to Sophie. Maybe it's because I'm a former fatty and a foodie but the sight of Bradford's Pudding Mile, cornflake tart and Mahmood's Burgers on my telly made my heart sing and my soul homesick. Bradfordians love to eat. When rumours of the re-opening of Mother Hubbard's fish and chip shop started I can't explain the joy that was felt in the community. For some of us it was akin to Bradford City Football club reaching Wembley. This was the place to eat fish and chips when we were kids. So, it would seem that integration has been happening in this segregated city, just not in ways people expected. Who would think that residents of the Curry Capital would drive the growing popularity of English grub? Fish fryer Mick, the Mother Hubbard's manager, certainly didn't. He said: "I never thought as many Asians would eat fish and chips as what they do, but Asians love them." Bradford has changed and adapted in so many ways that people never discuss and it was great to see all those things in one place. Thursday night's episode captured the Bradford I know and love brilliantly. Peppered with facts and amazing people it had me hooked from start to finish. The case studies really brought the city to life and the production team had obviously worked hard. Graham the gravedigger and builder had me in stitches. My former T&A News Editor, Jan Winter, sent me a tweet that summed up the characters: "There is a whole linguistic research project right there in those accents." Offering "a touch of Saville Row" for cars, Nav from EnKahnz summed up part of city that non-residents would not believe. He said "I see like a £500,000 car drive past me and for a second I thought I was in Monte Carlo, but no, I was on Great Horton Road!" And it's true! As a reporter for the Telegraph & Argus I spent many a late shift eating jam roly-poly and custard at Café Lahore counting flash cars. I live in London now but I have to say I have seen more luxury cars at a Bradford wedding than walking through Knightsbridge. There's something so Bradford about seeing a bright white Rolls Royce in bay in a Co-Op car park. It warms the cockles of my heart! If there was one character who contained all the parts of Bradford it was Anglo-Indian Rajan, the pigeon fancier and entrepreneur. With a maternal grandfather who didn't eat "none of that foreign muck" and a paternal grandfather who advised his Indian son "don't fall in love with a white person", you would expect him to be massively conflicted. But he's not. He's just another Bradford guy chasing a business dream. Bradford has had its fair share of bad publicity but it seems that struggle really does set you on the path to success. The city has for too long sat in the shadow of its successful sibling, Leeds. I always knew that if it stood apart and did its own thing something celebratory would happen and it seems it is. From the ashes of the past a new city is emerging. Here's to Bradford: City of Dreams! |
| * Saima Mir is a multimedia journalist, broadcaster and founder of whosthedaadi.com | * Saima Mir is a multimedia journalist, broadcaster and founder of whosthedaadi.com |
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